Robert Hall

That's what I thought.

Many of them are...but a lot of innovative and interesting technologies, esp. w/ phones, come out of Japan and Europe, but haven't caught on here because of our fragmented cellular networks and approach to data plans. And most all of the hardware is manufactured in Asia.

The best was my first week on the job at a large telecom company in Colorado Springs, June '97. I had just moved to town from Michigan, really my first big corporate job after grad school....my manager came by my cube, serious look on his face...asked if I had found a place, moved in, etc and if I had found a church, and invited me to his...one of the largest evangelical ones in the country (New Life, the megachurch who's pastor was in the gay prostitution scandal a couple years ago). I politely declined, but he asked me to come to events of theirs a couple more times over the next year before he decamped to Finland. Only after living there a few months did I realize I had moved to a place that was a hot bed of right wing fundies. Living in Ann Arbor and Chicago the previous few years, I only knew Colorado Springs for the Air Force Academy, great weather and great scenery... Rob

Ford seems to have achieved good crash test ratings w/ the Mustang and kept the weight reasonable.

+1. And those that laugh at everything...I used to have a coworker that sat over the cube wall from me that would do that... 'I just got an email..hah-hah-hah.'... 'I have a meeting..hah-hah-hah'. 'The production database crashed. Hah-hah-hah'. Got old after a while..after 3 years, got really old. Though he was very sharp and a great guy to work/lunch/drink with otherwise. A current pet peeve are the ones that come in late (9:30-10) and stay late (till 6:30) and send out emails expecting a reply after 5pm. I consistently come in by 7:30 and leave by 4:30 (some in my dept come even earlier/leave earlier). One guy on my team comes in at 9:30-10 and always misses the 9am Monday meeting. One thing working in Colorado Springs back in the '90s I found very irriating were managers, coworkers, etc that were always trying to invite me to join their church, etc. I'm not religious and find it pretty presumptive of them to assume I was a Christian (not every WASPy guy that moves to Colorado Springs is an evangelical).

Nice..getting into convertible season here now... Saw a bright red '10 Mustang GT convertible, top down on the freeway this morning. Also a clean mid '90s Merc 500SL roadster in black, top down. Rob

Counterpoint--printing newspapers is very expensive and polluting (sourcing paper, the printing process, the cost of transporting paper, the cost of recycling/waste in landfill of used papers). Posting content online is much cheaper. And for the consumer of said news product, it's very flexible--I can read the news (From many sources) on my wireless laptop, desktop, cell phone, etc, anywhere, anytime. And many online news sources have extensive archiving of back articles for future reference--i.e. the New York Times is particularly good at that, for example. If anything, the # of sources for news and information online far exceeds that of the print era--with print papers, a consumer might subscribe to one or maybe 2 dalies or a weekend edition. Online, I can source news from a vast number of sources---I get local news in my inbox from the local paper and a couple local TV stations, local news from other cities of interest, national and international news from multiple sources (Reuters, CNN, MSNBC, NY Times, LA Times, BBC, Der Spiegel, London Times, etc). There are plenty of news sources that seem to cover every political stripe out there also, from far left to middle of the road to far right, secular to religous, business oriented to grass roots. Not to mention email newsletters and RSS feeds for realtime updates, as well as tweets from news sources. Print papers are always out of date by the time you get the hard copy, the Internet can be updated immediately. I liked reading print papers back in the day, but it's a 19th century medium that's on it's way out, for better or for worse. Online--whether viewed via a computer or a cell phone or whatever the Next Big Thing is as far as devices, is the primary means of disseminating information in the 21st century.

Hmm...had the unintended consequence of creating an anti-theft device..

Very clever.

Cool site....any translation of 'Zubehor' (the 'o' has umlauts)?

Very cool video.. the relentless march forward of technology and people figuring out ways to harness it.. It's impressive when I think about the advancements of gadgets, media, etc just in the last 15 years...cell phones have become great little computers, the mainstreaming of computers, high speed internet is ubiquitous, print newspapers a thing of the past (I haven't subscribed to a paper in over 7 years), HD TVs, DVDs, DVRs, CDs to mp3s, etc. I remember going to 'libraries' years ago to research things..haven't done that in many years. Or renting videos/DVDs from Blockbuster..haven't done that since getting Netflix in '00.. Will the next 15 years be as dynamic?

He's in 'Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus' with Deborah Gibson. The trailer is on You Tube, looks to be a classic...(i.e. extremely cheesy disaster movie, looks like the SF/X budget was $5). Thread answer: Volvo (a Volvo 780 coupe was driven into a swimming pool in the last season of Falcon Crest)

Actually, recent research has shown Toyota owners, and specifically Prius owners, are on average, considerably happier and 90% more self-satisfied than the average car buyer, because Toyotas are very reliable, have high resale values, are efficient and help to save the planet.

I'm sure I would.. Yes, it's odd that I never picked it up. Just one of those things. Rob

Shiny happy people driving their Priuses in a happy sun shiny world. Paradise on earth is one message. Another is if you care about the Earth, you will drive a Prius.

This reminds me of an incident last year.. I had a job interview question that asked about chess moves and strategy...I've never played it in my life, said so, and improvised...

That was incompetence on the woman's part. She put the coffee cup between her legs. Coffee cups are supposed to go in a cupholder.

I miss my fall foliage drives in the Colorado high country...I'd go out to Aspen, Telluride, or elsewhere for a weekend jaunt at least 1-2 weekends every year to see the strands of golden aspens quaking in the breeze. Going to go up to N. Az later this month to see how the aspens look here.. Rob

Hmmm...running a firewall w/ really restrictive settings, perhaps?

Forgot about the Atom..that would be a great track day toy, not to mention a surreal commuter car. I'd love to have the ZR1 as a companion to the Ford GT for twisty Ohio backroad driving. Ford GT in white /w dark blue stripes (or dark blue w/ white stripes, or maybe the Gulf colors--lt blue & orange) and the ZR1 in gunmetal gray...

Autoblog Article

Saw a couple interesting vintage GMs this morning. First, a goregous bronze '70 Skylark convertible, tan interior, top down, and 2nd, a bright red '58-59 Chevy Apache longbed fleetside pickup, lowered front suspension, '67 style Chevy Rally wheels, wide ones in back.

Happy Birthday!

Good article. Even though I live the corporate cubicle life that sounds sterile in the article, I do appreciate the experiences I've had working w/ my hands. My late father, who was a suit-and-tie office man his whole career, enjoyed weekend labor on the family 'farm', with an 1859 house to maintain (a lot of work) and 150 acres of land with various buildings, etc. Growing up, esp. after he retired, every summer, he'd keep me from getting bored with many family projects...I learned framing, hanging sheetrock, how to dig 250 ft long trenches and ditches, how to build a septic tank, build a bathroom, lay t-lock shingles, paint a barn, use a plumb bob and a level, bleed brakes, do oil changes on everything from a John Deere tractor to a diesel Escort, remove an engine and transmission, strip an interior, digging up stumps, mowing acres and acres of yard, planting shrubs, trimming trees, growing veggies, grease a Snapper Comet riding mower, etc. All in Ohio heat and humidity. All fascinating memories now. Very different world from my technology-fueled, academic, sububurban and corporate cubicle life over the last 20 years. Sometimes I wonder if I've lost part of my soul in the process.

It seems like the whole 'personal luxury' coupe market, at least those at mainstream brands below $40k or so, has died off. The Solara and Monte Carlo were the last ones, since the Sebring is convertible only now. Can the niche make a comeback? It was still very strong throughout the '80s and petered out in the '90s, at least at Ford and GM... I'm sure there were many reasons as to the decline and ultimate demise of the market segment-- changing demographics and interests of buyers, corporate neglect, corporate distraction w/ the truck & SUV boom of the last 15+ years, etc... Rob